Skip Leg Day?
by emrys-knight
Summary: Peter is grabbed while he's at a night out with Tony. The man who takes him wants money and Tony can't give it to him, as it would inspire others to do the same, hoping to yield the same results. But Tony pays. That payment just isn't monetary.
1. Chapter 1

It's the fanciest restaurant in the city with a fifteen-year-old and a world-famous superhero on the premises. Peter looked around the room while he ate, taking in the environment. Everyone was in very nice, few-grand-a-piece suits and dresses, making him intimidated even though he was in a very expensive suit Tony had bought for him that morning. The intimidation was especially weird, given that his suit probably cost more than everyone else's in the whole place. Tony likes to spend too much on Peter. Regardless, the large painting on the wall, to the gigantic plants in the middle of the room to the really expensive looking, authentic, wood ceilings were enough to make Peter nervous. The most expensive thing he'd ever eaten was half of a lobster tail Dr. Strange (turns out that's actually his real name and not just his made up name!) had brought home from a restaurant that he'd decided he didn't want.

The waiter looked at him with a nice enough look. It didn't look _obviously_ judgemental but he could see it behind the man's eyes. Peter knew he kept the facade for a good tip from the famous Iron Man. Sadly, for him, Tony saw the same Peter did and later on, did not tip very well. Nevertheless, Peter was happy. He was out at a really fancy cool restaurant with Tony and he couldn't have asked for more. Nothing was better than spending time with his father-figure, celebrating.

"Thanks for this, Mr. Stark. I'm having a lot of fun," Peter savored every bite of his pasta, slurping the one, long noodle up in one go. The end snapped up and hit his nose, just like the cartoons, sending a few drops of the sauce flying. Tony laughed before noticing the other richie-riches staring in disgust and unnecessary judgement at the wholesome child. Peter looked around, looking a little too embarrassed for Tony's liking. He'd never had to learn how to eat at places like that. He and May couldn't afford the food. "Give the kid a break. He got good grades and deserves a night out," Tony looked around the room at the assholes. The people kept their gazes at the young one. " _What did I say_?!" The people averted their gazes from the two and continued to eat.

"You really didn't have to do that." Peter liked it, though. His father-figure was protecting him. He smiled while he ate the rest of his food. His plate would have been stacked on top of ten more if the staff hadn't kept taking the plates when he was done. Peter kept eating and eating with his enhanced metabolism begging him to keep going.

When the meal was over and Peter was sated well enough, the two exited the front doors and started to walk down the fancy staircase, to get into the limo before Tony's phone rang. "I'm sorry, kid, I know I promised but this could be important."

"It's okay, Tony," Peter laughed. "I'll just get inside the limo. It's kinda cold for me." Tony tapped the kid's shoulder as a nonverbal thank you while he answered the phone.

"Happy, what is it? I said I didn't want interruptions while hanging out with the kid."

"We had a shipment you said you'd sign for."

"Fine. I'll stop by there really quick but I'm not staying so have everything ready for me."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at," Tony turned to look at the name of the restaurant, as he had his driver take him to a random fancy place. It's not like he had to worry about paying for it. "We're at Le Bernardin. It's fine. We're just leaving. I'll be right there to sign for everything so just tip the guys a hundred each to wait."

"Fine. Hurry, though."

Tony turned to look back at Peter, to explain the minor blip in the schedule for the night. When he saw the open limo door with no one inside, he looked around to see the streets were empty. Devoid of human interaction. "Peter?!" He got on his phone, quickly trying to call up the kid's phone. He heard the distinct sound of the theremin ringtone. When he looked around, he saw Peter's phone underneath the car, just in front of the sidewalk. The screen was cracked and there was no sign of the spider. Tony quickly rang Happy back up. "Call every available Avenger, _now_! Peter's missing!" He hung up before he could get a smart-ass shady comment towards the kid.

:::::::

Peter slightly crouched to get into the limo before he suddenly felt a pulling at his sides. He stood up straight, expecting to see Tony. Before he could say or do anything, a large man in a ski-mask covering his face, was putting a hand over the kid's mouth. Before he knew it, he was unconscious.

:::::

Tony ran at full speed into the compound's common area, yelling for the Avengers. "T'Challa! Steve! Sam! Barnes! Shuri! Steven! Quill! Anybody and everybody get your asses in the common room or I'm shutting off the wifi for the rest of your miserable lives!"

The other Avengers filed in, nearly in order of called names, curious to see why Happy had called them and why Tony was freaking out.

"Tony, what's going on," Sam sat on the couch, legs outstretched before Bucky came in and shoved them off the surface, sitting where they used to be. "Boy if you don't…"

"Mr. Stark, is it an emergency? It is three in the morning." T'Challa said, _beautiful_ and _sexy,_ Wakandan accent thick and polite.

"Peter's missing," Tony paced the room while the Avengers and a few more sat down. "We were outside the restaurant and we were getting into the limo then I took a call for just a second and I didn't look away for long but then he was just _gone_. His phone was on the ground and I have no idea what happened. He wouldn't have just left. Especially not without his phone."

"Did anyone see what happened? Y'know, witnesses?" Steve's look was concerning to Tony. He never looked so freaked out like this.

"We went so late at night because we were trying to avoid paparazzi. It worked, apparently, because no one saw anything! We have nobody to tell us what Peter's captor or captors look like," Tony paced a bit faster, starting to breathe a bit heavier.

"Captors?" Bucky lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"He wouldn't have left. The only explanation is that he was kidnapped." As if on cue, Friday alerted the Avengers of news they definitely didn't want to hear.

::::::

"Wake up, kid," The big man in the ski mask kicked Peter's shin, waking the young one. Peter was strapped down to a cold, metal table, angled just right to where his whole body was visible to a camera in the middle of the room. The man tightened the white leather straps, just to be safe.

"What?" His brow furrowed before he slowly opened his eyes to see this big, muscly man. His arms were the size of bowling balls while his legs were quite skinny for his upper body size. "Skip leg day?" Peter's voice shook a little bit, frustrating himself. "Seriously, just alternate during your, assumingly, regular routine."

"What'd you say to me?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just waking up and mumbling you know how it is, right? I mean, this probably isn't your first time doing something like this. Who starts off with a kid, right? It's harder to hurt kids. I think it is. Okay I'll shut up, now." Peter rambled a bit, hoping to charm the man into backing down.

"Use some of that sarcasm again and I'll cut off one of your fingers. Got it?" Okay so, not backing down. Good to know.

Peter swallowed hard and breathlessly spoke. "Got it." The young hero decided to remain silent for as long as possible to avoid pissing off the disproportionate man.

:::::::

"You're receiving a video call from a user named: I Got Your Kid." Friday chirped. "Would you like to accept or decline th-"

"Accept!" Tony was so loud, everyone in the room flinched.

The call opens to see Peter on the large metal table, strapped down with those damn thick leather straps. He was quieter than usual, making it unsettling to the Avengers. The kid struggled a little bit, careful not to undo his restraints and expose his powers. He could see the laptop next to the camera. On screen was a livestream on one half, and on the other was a live feed to Times Square where it appeared skinnylegman was broadcasting the events of what was happening to him. No way he was going to expose himself like that. Not to all of New York City, and most-likely, the world!

"What the hell do you want? Don't you dare hurt him!" Tony nearly punched the table he was standing behind, watching the TV screen on the wall.

"I want fifty million dollars in one hour or there will be consequences. Every hour you don't pay, I do something fun to your kid, Stark. Fifty nine minutes left. Do it." The man walked off screen, leaving Peter to be the only one in frame.

"Peter! Peter, can you hear me?!" Tony shook with anticipation.

"Mr. Stark! I can hear you!" Peter struggled a little bit more.

"You're gonna be okay. We're gonna find you! Can you see a _clock_?"

"No. I think he took it out of the room."

"But you think it's still in the building?"

"Definitely."

There was a short pause, leaving an opening for another Avenger to speak. Cap walked over to Tony and whispered, "Why ask about a clock?"

Tony leaned into Steve's ear, whispering as well. "It's a way of asking if he still has his watch on because it has a tracker in it."

Steve nodded and went to sit down again after giving Tony a comforting tap on the back. Tony muted the call, momentarily, calling out to Friday. "Track Peter's watch!"

::::::

It's an hour later and the tracking wasn't working. No money has befallen the villain and Peter was starting to freak out. He could feel the hour mark creeping up on him, even though he had no access to a timepiece.

"It's been an hour. I don't see any money." The disproportionate man angrily informed them.

"The Avengers don't negotiate with terrorists, kidnappers or supervillains. We don't negotiate with evil people." Tony hated every word he just said.

"You know, I'm actually happy you said that. I get a little anger out. I'll get my money next hour. Especially after…" A sound of metal scraping against metal was heard as the man walked behind the table Peter was strapped to. Soon enough, a large knife was seen in his right hand and a taser in the left. "Especially after I do this!" The man plunged the knife into the side of Peter's stomach, eliciting a throat-ripping scream, abruptly cut off by the extraction of the blade. Peter lay there, eyes wide, tears freely falling. He had no time to rest or recover from the shock before being met with fifty thousand volts of electricity sending him into a seizing fit, jostling and thrashing around on the table, only being held down by the straps.

"Peter!" Tony watched the blood flow down Peter's stomach even faster, making the older hero's chest tighten as if being hugged by the Hulk. It was now obvious why the leather straps were white. Peter's blood seemed to dye the material, somehow making the whole ordeal more painful.

The man must have held the taser to Peter's body too long, because when the man ended the contact, the spider's eyes were unfocused.

"Peter?!" Tony's screams were painful for NYC residents and tourists alike to hear. He watched while Peter tilted his head. Why did he look confused? Peter squeezed his eyes shut before opening them wider than anything Tony had ever seen before. "Peter? Come on, kid, say something."

"I fin… fin… Tiny." Peter's words were jumbled, taking Tony a moment to understand.

"You're fine! Good. That's good, buddy," Tony muted the call and looked at Bruce. He didn't even need to say anything before the genius could understand what he wanted to know.

"Too much electricity can cause temporary dementia. He seems to be suffering from two of the symptoms: confusion and jumbled speech." It was obvious to the other Avengers that Bruce hated what he was about to do. "Other things that could happen are: hallucinations, memory loss, a hard time understanding language, irritability, personality changes and a lack of restraint. Most of those will be fine, given some time and rest once we get him back, but…"

"But?" Bucky steps in.

"If he gets irritable or loses his restraint, then he could expose his abilities to the world. He would almost definitely be outed as Spider-Man. And that's not all of it," Everyone's sighs were heavily audible. "Personality changes are completely unpredictable. Given his abilities and his natural personality; this could be bad. The kid is kind and forgiving. Change that and what do you think you'll get? Plus-"

"Okay, Mr. Banner. We need to find him, fast." Shuri put a hand on the scientist's shoulder, as she was seeing how much more stressed Tony was becoming.

Tony unmuted the call when he noticed the captor's footsteps. "I can't get you the money so just let the kid go!"

"One hour." The screen went black, sending Tony dangerously close to tears. He crossed his arms and screamed up at the AI. "Fucking find Peter! _Now_!"

::::::

Peter finally got his bearings back, and he really started to think about where he was. He looked around at the dark room, the only light coming from a light-tent on a tall stand. It was bright and painful for his eyes with his heightened senses. He could smell the wet, moldy wood from outside the door behind him. He looked at the burned-looking, pale yellow windows. The ceiling leaked in, like, a million places. There were bags of cement powder everywhere, lined up against the walls with sawhorses next to each other with wooden pallets on top. Peter assumed it was either a building being renovated, soon, or a really creepy art studio given the paint splatter all over the walls. The colors would have been beautiful if the red weren't in two different shades, one looking suspiciously like blood… a lot… of blood…

Things, aside from the whole situation, actually weren't too bad until he started thinking about how much he wanted to get back to the compound. To see the Avengers he loved so much. The people who protected him and loved him, not electrocuted him. Okay, actually, Gamora does that sometimes but it's just sparring. She didn't mean anything by it and it didn't hurt too bad. Not like this does.

Every moment that passes feels fast and slow all at the same time. Peter figures it must be the electricity affecting his brain.

:::::

"Peter's watch tracker has been located." Dammit, that was the sweetest sound Tony had ever heard in his life! Friday had never sounded better!

"Send the suit to me and send his location to it," Tony ran towards the launchpad with the pieces of his suit following right behind him, adhering to his body and creating the iconic Iron Man suit. He had Friday send ninety percent of his power to the thrusters in an attempt to get to his kid faster. Before he could get halfway to the location the tracker was pointing to, a video came up in the corner of Tony's FOV. His heart dropped all the way down to the streets of NYC, below. There it was, again. Peter strapped to that damn table, still bleeding over the now pink straps. The bleeding had slowed a lot, though, scaring Tony, making him think maybe he was healing too fast and the people over the stream and the kid's captor start to question things. But for now, it wasn't noticeable.

"It's been an hour and would you look at that…" The captor's footsteps were heard but he was not seen. Just Peter's widening eyes. "No money? What do you have to say about that, Stark?"

Tony gave a heavy sigh before replying. "The Avengers don't negotiate with terrorists, kidnappers or evil people." Quoting that line hurt so much. He had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next.

"We're gonna have to dance a little longer, aren't we? Alright, then. Let's _dance_." A shot was heard, immediately followed by the sound of metal hitting metal and it was evident what had just happened when a gasp escaped from Peter's mouth right before a scream was heard then quickly cut off. The kid looked dazed, before looking down as far as he could to see a bullet hole in the left side of his ribs. He could feel every tiny bit of what had happened inside of him. The small crack in one of the ribs when the bullet grazed it. The air coming through, a little bit, in the entry point. The rubbing against the ammunition that had bent into and stuck to the metal behind him, irritating the exit point. He felt as the warm, wet blood flowed down in rivulets before he started to feel a tightness in his chest. That's when he knew what was about to happen.

:::::

"Peter," Tony screamed as he watched the kid with glassy eyes. He didn't know it, yet, but the captor had muted him. This guy was gonna die for what he was doing to this poor, innocent kid. He watched as Peter gasped for air, slightly struggling in his restraints with his eyes wide open. He kicked his legs as best he could, balling his fists, whitening his knuckles. "Don't die on me, kid, I'm almost there!"

"Oh. Looks like a pneumothorax," The captor clicked his tongue a few times, really pissing Tony off. "Guess I'll have to fix that." The man came back into frame with a stool, setting it down next to the table Peter was on. He left the screen, once more, coming back with a rubber tube and a contraption that no-one but a doctor could have made on the spot like that. The man used the knife he'd previously stabbed Peter with and made a painful cut across the spider's chest, before shoving the tube in, making Peter squirm at the intrusion. He wanted so badly to scream, but all he could manage was breathless cry. He attempted to dig the back of his head into the table, trying anything to relieve the pain.

He could hear the people of New York gasping at the sight of this small, innocent teenager suffering at the hands of a man who seriously needs to stop skipping leg day. He didn't care about what they thought or what that man was doing, at the moment. His mind was only on the desire to take in a full breath and before he knew it, he could. The tube released the air from his chest, allowing his lungs to fully inflate and deflate, letting him breathe. He'd experienced a collapsed lung, before, but he'd never gotten a chest tube without at least minor drugs and man did it suck. He knew the tube was unsanitized. He also knew his wound was either going to get infected, or he was gonna get sick, or _both_. Geez, hopefully not both…

::::::

Tony flew through the skies at breakneck speeds, almost to the tracker's location. When he got there, it was an empty gravel car lot next to an abandoned warehouse. He picked up the watch in the middle of the lot before going inside of the building to find Peter. He searched throughout the area, finding nothing. "Friday, do a heat signature search of the area and find out about any work going on."

"I have found no heat signatures other than your own and this building is scheduled to be demolished at the end of the month." Friday chirped. "My apologies, sir. Mr. Parker is nowhere to be found at this location. It seems-"

"Yeah, I know, the guy dumped his watch. Why would he do that unless… Peter did it? Why would he do that?"


	2. Chapter 2

Tony stood in the gravel while it rained heavily on his suit. Friday cut the sound of the water hitting the metal suit as much as she could, hoping to help Tony think. "The kid dropped it here. That means he was here. He's not in that building, right there but…" The gears in his head caught. "Friday, broaden the heat signature search!"

Friday hummed for a moment before getting back to the hero. "I have found two signatures in the warehouse in front of you. One large. One small. They seem to be getting in a hot vehicle."

"That means the engine's running! He's gonna try to move Peter!" Tony shot through the air towards the warehouse in front of him. "This is our chance!"

:::::

The disproportionate man rolled the table Peter was on into the back of the van then closed the double doors. He quickly jumped into the driver's seat and kept a heavy foot on the gas pedal. When the van was out of the warehouse and rolling down the cracked concrete back road, the man could see Tony in the rear view mirror. He pushed the petal down to the floor, trying to outrun Tony.

"I'm coming, Peter!" Tony's throat hurt and he knew the kid couldn't hear him but, dammit, he's just so close!

::::::

"Tony!" Peter felt a surge of relief flood through his body. It was the first positive feeling he'd felt in what felt like forever. He shivered as the man kept the van way too cold for the spider. It didn't matter to Peter. He was being rescued!

"Shut up, back there!" The man's tone made Peter flinch.

"Screw you! Mr. Stark! Tony, I'm right here!" Peter danced a little bit, the straps stopping him from moving too much. He was weak, at this point, too weak to break through the straps. The blood loss was starting to get to him, along with the cold temperatures in the van.

"I said _shut up_ ," The man swerved around a motorcycle, now on the streets of outer New York City.

"Mr. Stark! Down here," Peter struggled in the restraints as best he could before feeling an intense burning pain in his shoulder. His ears rang. Why were his ears ringing? He looked to his hurting shoulder to see a hole in it and blood flowing freely onto the metal under him. Peter exhausted all of the air out of his lungs with a pained, strained scream.

:::::

"I'm coming, Peter," Tony flew as fast as he could, maneuvering through the skyscrapers. Then he heard it. A shot. It sounded muffled… "Peter!"

"Sir-"

"He just shot Peter again!"

"Sir, your heart rate is too high." Friday's words were lost on Tony. Tony closed his eyes and breathed for a second, opening them to see a row of the same van Peter and his captor were in. "No! Which one has Peter in it?"

"I can't seem to differentiate them, Mr. Stark. I'm sorry." Friday sounded sad. Maybe that was just Tony projecting. He didn't know.

"I have to go down there! I'll tear all of those damn vans apart to find my kid," Tony started to nose dive towards the van before feeling the suit correct, keeping him from getting to the vans. "Friday, what the Hell?!"

"Dr. Banner has taken control of my systems. I have no choice, Mr. Stark."

"Patch me in to him," Tony looked through the coding running down the side of his screen.

"Tony-" Bruce tried to explain.

"Bruce, if you don't get out of my suit, so help me I'll-"

"Tony! He'll kill him if you go down there!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"You think if you go down there, ripping the doors off of the other vans, that guy's not gonna panic and just kill Peter," Bruce sighed. "Just put trackers on all of the vans. I'll deploy the other Avengers and we'll track them all down at the same time. Don't worry, Tony. We'll get Peter back."

"If you weren't right, I'd be pissed, you know that," Tony crossed his arms.

"I think you still are but sure," Bruce's joke might have made Tony laugh if he weren't so worried about his spider child.

:::::

"Haha! I lost Iron Man! I just outsmarted Iron Man!" The man cheered while he pulled into a restaurant back alley.

"Tony," Peter whispered. A single tear fell down his cheek. He struggled in his restraints, moving the tube in his chest, making him cry out. He hadn't noticed it before, given his complete focus on being found. He continued to cry, feeling completely devoid of hope. He'd been taken, found then un-found, if you will.

The doors swung open, and he flinched, struggling as much as he could without causing too much pain. The man pulled the table out of the van, rolling it into the back of the restaurant that Peter could only guess was… Thai. And now he's thinking about Aunt May and Ned and how they'd eat Thai together. Great. He just wanted to be right by their side, again.

He watched as the man rolled him through the empty kitchen into the large, walk-in freezer. Peter shivered the second his feet passed the threshold. It smelled quite good, given the fact that it'd once stored food and certain seasonings. He was turned and lifted, again, to be at the perfect angle for the camera. The man repeated the set-up he'd had before, in the warehouse, making it clear to Peter that he'd only been moved and that everything was still going to be the same. He continued to shiver violently, while he felt his mind start to slip. He knew what was happening and that if the Avengers didn't find him fast… he'd never see them again.

:::::::

"He's not here." Bucky cleared the first location of the closest van to the compound.

"Not here, either." Shuri cleared the next.

"No children here." T'Challa.

"I'm not finding anything here." Steve.

"Kid's not here." Dr. Strange.

"That's five down, two more to go." Bruce kept an eye on the computers. He watched as Tony's marker on the map soared through the sky towards the next van's location. Before anyone could say anything else, there was an alarm blaring through the comms. They all knew what time it was.

Tony and Sam looked into the corner of their FOVs as the video call was pulled up. T'Challa and Shuri watched as their beads illuminated the hologram and Steve, Dr. Strange and Bruce looked at their phones.

"Another hour, another disappointment. While I enjoyed outsmarting you, Iron Man, I don't like seeing a zero in this account. Where's my money, Stark?" The man's voice sounded angrier and more impatient than it had been the other times.

Tony muted the Avenger side of the call then spoke into the comms, "I'm giving him the money. This has gone too far."

"What? No!" Steve's voice was loud through the communications.

"Look at him, Steve! Look at him!" Tony looked at the call, seeing the kid shivering, dazed and… wait… _shivering_. He's somewhere cold. The only cold places in the middle of the summer in New York are freezers! "Nevermind. Which van went to a food place, Banner?"

"Um… The last one. Why?" Bruce looked at the screen. "Oh!"

"Stark!" The man called out, loudly.

Tony unmuted the call. "The Avengers do not negotiate with-"

"Yeah, yeah, heard it all before. That's fine. I guess I'll just do what I should have done the second hour around." He walked out of frame then back in, making Tony's stomach clench at the sight. That damn knife and taser. "Remember, Stark. This is your fault. Sorry your mentor sucks, kid." He plunged the knife into Peter's stomach then tazed him, leaving the cutlery inside. Peter thrashed on the table, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. When the man released the taser, Peter was visibly breathing heavily, crying aloud, not caring who heard. His coughs were wet with the pooling blood in his mouth.

"You son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill you for that!" Tony diverted all of the power he had to the thrusters.

"Shoulda given me the money," The man cut Peter out of the restraints, making him fall onto his side. The young spider coughed some blood up onto the tile he lay on. His captor trained his gun on the kid's head. "I'll be merciful for his sake. Thanks to you, he's been through enough."

::::::

May and Ned watched on from the TV in May and Peter's apartment, screaming at what was happening. May was on her knees, crying and begging aloud for the man to let her baby live. Ned knelt beside her, screaming for him to leave his best fr-no- _brother_ alone.

The people of New York and the rest of the world gasped at the sight, rooting for the kid they didn't know. Before the screen went black with a loud bang. May wailed while Ned went eerily silent, rocking back and forth on his knees in a daze.

:::::

Tony crashed through the ceiling, tackling the man, taking the bullet in the chest before it could get to Peter. The bullet crumpled against the strength of the Iron Man suit. Tony punched the guy, nearly crushing his skull as he flew against the back wall. Tony turned to look at Peter who lay bleeding out and coughing up blood.

"M-Mr. St-"

"It's okay, Peter. You're okay," Tony picked the kid up, bringing him into a bridal carry, letting his head lean onto the suit's chest. He could hear Peter crying, breaking his heart into a million pieces. He had the suit warm up his arms slowly, letting the kid get some heat as the rest of the power was to the thrusters, sending the two through the air towards the compound. Tony called through the comms, "I've got him. He's alive but he's in bad shape. Bruce, get the med bay ready. T'Challa, Shuri, go get May and Ned. They'll want to know what's going on. Everyone else, get to his room. He's gonna want to see everyone when he wakes up." Everyone agreed and started their tasks as assigned.

::::

A knock was heard at the door, startling the two loved ones. May gathered herself as much as she could before she watched as the door opened, revealing the princess of Wakanda, herself and her beautiful brother.

"Miss Parker. I am T'Challa, son of T'Chaka. King of Wakan-" T'Challa began his routine introductions.

"Peter is alive and in surgery right now. He should be fine. We're here to take you to the Avengers Compound to see him once he wakes up." Shuri cut the king off.

"Oh thank God!" May hugged Shuri as tight as she could. Ned froze in place.

"See, brother? Tell them what they want to know, then introduce yourself." Shuri laughed.

"We are not here to harm you. We are friends with Peter." T'Challa was too sweet.

"You're the Black Panther! You're friends with Peter! That's so cool! When can we see him?" Ned looked at T'Challa and Shuri with those big eyes.

"As soon as he is out of surgery." T'Challa held a hand on Ned's back, leading him and May out of their apartment to go to his Panther Plane.

:::::

Peter's brow furrowed before his eyes opened, slightly. He quickly got up out of the bed, stumbling back towards the wall, waking Tony and the other Avengers along with May and Ned. He looked around the room, only seeing the disproportionate man where there should have been loved ones. He crawled up the wall a little bit. "Get away from me!" When he noticed his arm sling on his shoulder, he ripped it off with his good one, whimpering, slightly, at the pain it caused.

"Peter, it's us! Come down, honey," May stretched her arms out towards the kid before he kicked his IV pole towards her, ripping his needle out and sending his aunt crashing down with a pole to the head.

"Leave me alone! Just leave me alone!" Peter crawled further up the wall before seeing "his captor" coming back at him, except it was a different one.

"You're okay, now, Pete. Just let us help you, kid," Tony tried the same May did, getting a foot to the face, earning him a throbbing black eye.

"Please don't hurt me again!" Peter crawled up to the ceiling, through the window above his door and out into the halls while everyone followed. He could feel his stitches tear and the blood flow down his sides. All he had on was sweatpants and he was shirtless, therefore, letting the blood drip to the floor.

"Peter, come back!" Steve called out.

"He's delirious." Bruce took the tranquilizer gun from Natasha who had just walked up behind him. Bucky ran up to be below the kid who was clumsily crawling on the ceiling with only one arm. "You got this, Barnes?"

"Yup. Do it."

"I'm sorry, Peter." Bruce trained the gun on Peter's back. May looked away, burying her face into Cap's shoulder. Bruce pulled the trigger and the dart got Peter in the shoulder closest to his heart. His crawling slowed and he soon fell into the White Wolf's arms, fast asleep.

:::::

Peter wakens, again, only this time to being restrained in the bed. He pulled at them, thrashing in the bed, whimpering with the pain every movement caused.

"Peter. Peter, it's okay, kid." Tony put a hand on the spider's shoulder, making him flinch. He calmed when he realized who it was.

"Mr. Stark? You found me," Peter tried to lift his hands to hug Tony before forcefully being reminded of the restraints. He tugged at them a little harder, looking at Tony with the biggest puppy eyes he could muster. "W-why do I have these on?"

"Bruce!" Tony started working on the locks to the cuff on his good shoulder before answering. "You woke up, yesterday, and you didn't recognize us. You… you tried to run away before we could help you. You opened up your stitches in your stomach and you ripped off your arm sling so we had to make sure you didn't do it again."

"Did-did I… did I give you that black eye?" Peter looked horrified, breaking Tony's heart. The older man finished with the cuff as Bruce walked in. The two started on the shoulder strap.

"Look on the bright side: Your form was fantastic when you kicked him."

"Dammit, I told you to go home. The kid doesn't need to deal with your shit right now." Tony's voice was stern.

"I'm just making sure he's alright. Which one are you, by the way? Maguire, Garfield or Holland?" Wade polished his gun with Bruce's microfibre cloth for his glasses.

"The hell are you talking about?" Bruce grabbed his cloth out of the mercenary's hands.

"The kid," DP pointed towards the spider.

"His name is Peter, Wade. Go home." Tony was starting to lose patience.

"Holland! Right! You're the only one with the daddy-son relationship with RDJ over here." Wade started to skip out of the room before hearing Tony get a dig in.

"What drugs are you on?" Tony looked back at Peter who seemed to be laughing. He may have hated Wade's intrusion but he liked seeing a smile on Peter's face.

"I've only ever met Deadpool in passing a few times. It was always weird because he called me "Tom" and "mate". The first time he met, he said he "forgot we were in the same universe, now,"" Peter's smile made Tony so happy while he'd told the short story. If only that smile were to last.

::::::

Peter slept in his soft sheets with T'Challa sleeping on his couch and Bucky in the recliner. The Avengers took turns taking watch over Peter while he slept. May and Ned slept in the room, too, as Tony had two beds brought in especially for them.

:::::

Peter sat in the middle of the common room of the Avengers Tower on the large round coffee table, laughing with the Avengers, watching TV. He ate the foods around him, joining Clint and Nat in a popcorn throwing battle.

Steve walked in the room with a huge cake that looked almost as tall as he was! Peter moved off of the coffee table, allowing Steve to set the cake down. May arranged the candles on top while Ned started singing Happy Birthday. The smiles around the room warmed Peter's heart. He blew his candles out and everyone clapped. When he looked around the room, he'd never felt better. He had a huge family that loved him and supported him.

He looked out of the window at the NYC skyline, looking at the lights at night. They glowed so beautifully. Suddenly, he saw a red light in the distance that seemed to get bigger as it came towards the tower. It… it was a helicopter. "Why's that helicopter coming at us really fast?"

Everyone seemed to ignore Peter.

"Mr. Stark? Hey, there's a helicopter coming at the tower really fast!" Peter shouted, getting up and jumping behind Tony.

"Come on, Peter. Open your presents!" Shuri called out. She held a present up, as to gesture the fact she wanted him to open that one. Peter averted his gaze from the princess, back to the chopper, now hovering not even ten feet from the building. The aircraft ascended, allowing Peter to see a drop ladder. When it got to the bottom, he saw… his captor!

Peter screamed, running back behind Bucky, grabbing onto his shirt, "It's him! He's back! He's here to hurt me, he's gonna take me again!" Peter cried as he watched the man break through the grass and come towards him. Peter jumped back, crying out. "Why don't you see him?! He's right there!"

"Peter, just open your presents. We can't have pizza, cake or ice-cream if you don't open your presents!" Sam smiled while he, too, held a gift up towards Peter.

"How are you not seeing him?!" Peter scrambled back, hitting his back against the wall. His captor came at him, full speed with his arms out in a choking position. Peter screamed, calling out for his Avenger family to help him.

::::::

"Peter! Peter, wake up, honey!" May shook Peter as best she could while he screamed and thrashed in the bed.

"Here, allow me," Bucky walked up to the bed, stepping in while May stepped aside. He held the kid down and screamed. "Peter!"

Peter broke through Bucky's hold, sitting upright, hyperventilating. He looked around the now dimly lit room at his loved ones. "He was back. He c-he came for me."

"That man is gone, now. I handed him over to the general of my army." T'Challa placed a gentle hand on Peter's arm.

"Okoye?" Peter tilted his head slightly.

"Yes. She will take care of him." T'Challa's words were comforting and frightening all at the same time. "That man will never cause you harm again."

"I don't really wanna go back to sleep. Can we just… can we just watch a movie or something?" Peter felt bad about having woken everyone up but they'd all made it clear he was to be asserting if he wanted anything.

"Sure. Anything you want, kid." Bucky brought Peter up into his lap as he crawled into the bed with the kid.

"Yeah, anything you want!"

"Wade? How long have you been here," Peter looked up at the merc laying down in his hammock up near the ceiling.

"The person writing this isn't sure how long she wants me to have been here, so I don't really know, either."

"O-Okay…" T'Challa looked at the red-suited man.

"I like this guy." Bucky looked, as well.

Almost as if on cue, Tony bust through the door. "Peter! Hey, kid, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I think I'm okay." Peter gave a reassuring smile. Oh, man, Tony loved that smile.

"Mind if I watch with you guys?" Tony sat on the end of Peter's bed.

"We're watching The Losers. You down for that?" Bucky piped up.

"Yeah, Cap's in it." Wade spoke up.

"Dammit, Wade, how'd you get in?!" Tony looked up to the merc. "I have precautions for you!"

"The writer makes things happen regardless of what you want."

"What does that even _mean_?" Tony was getting frustrated. Everyone but Tony laughed, making Peter feel a lot better and safer than he had in awhile. He loved his family so much. So so much.


End file.
